Are we alone? This is one of the most monumental and consequential questions humanity has asked itself. In the coming decades, we may finally know whether simple life is common or exceedingly rare in our cosmic neighborhood. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), set for launch in 2018, is our first chance to characterize 1-3 habitable planets around nearby stars with transmission spectroscopy

UW astronomy graduate student Edward Schwieterman will review plans to identify and characterize potentially habitable planets. He will also present his own research on identifying astronomical habitability markers and biosignatures, especially in the context of reducing our uncertainty about potential “false positives” for life.

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Announcements

This is just a friendly reminder that the The Hunt for Habitable Worlds and Biosignatures in the 2020s and Beyond (general meetings event) is scheduled for tonight, Apr 20, 2016, 07:30 PM. Please come out and join us! We will have a welcome table with juice and cookies at 7:00pm.

This is just a friendly reminder that the The Hunt for Habitable Worlds and Biosignatures in the 2020s and Beyond (general meetings event) is scheduled for Apr 20, 2016, 07:30 PM. Please come out and join us!